Verstappen doesn't think Horner's firing 'will matter at all' for his future at Red Bull
'Life is unpredictable, but in general I'm very happy where I'm at and I hope — and it was still the target that we set out when we signed the new deal — that I would drive here until the end of my career,' Verstappen said Thursday at the Belgian Grand Prix.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Oscar Piastri's Early Pass on Lando Norris Leads to Belgian Grand Prix Victory
In the Belgian Grand Prix, after a 90-minute delay for low visibility, Oscar Piastri took the lead on the first lap of racing after four laps behind the safety car. Heading into turn five, Piastri took the lead from his teammate Lando Norris, who started on pole. This lap one move would be the race winner, as Piastri kept control of the race once by his teammate. This was Piastri's sixth win of the season, extending his points lead in the championship to 16 points over Lando Norris. Most teams set their cars up for a wet race, but with the long red flag, the majority of the race would be run in dry conditions, with drivers switching to intermediates starting as early as lap 12. Lewis Hamilton was among the first to pit after racing from the pit lane up to 13th position before coming in. By lap 16, Hamilton would be up to seventh after his poor qualifying this Spa weekend. Hamilton was then stuck behind the Williams of Alex Albon for the rest of the race, protecting sixth position. Piastri, as the lead McLaren in this race, was given the prime strategy and went to the pits for mediums on lap 13, drawing in the rest of the leaders, as his teammate stayed out for a lap waiting for the pits to be available for him. After everyone exited the pits and survived on the slick tires, McLaren's Will Joseph gave Norris the call to go with an alternative strategy and get hard tires on lap 14 in an attempt to make it to the end of the race. Electing for a one-stop strategy, knowing that he won't be able to race Piastri for track position. A few laps later the McLaren pit wall decided that mediums had a chance to make it as well, putting Piastri in the position to either pit a second time and have to battle back past his teammate and possibly Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, if his lead isn't build up enough or stay out and defend in the closing lap on further degraded tires than those of his teammate. Through the middle of the race, the two McLarens averaged an eight-second separation, fluctuating between seven and nine seconds based mostly on small mistakes by Norris, including a missed corner entry on lap 26 that cost him a second and a lock-up going into turn one on lap 36 that cost him up the hill. After a radio message from the pit wall reminding Norris to focus and not overbrake, Norris started to close the gap to Piastri as the mediums started to degrade. "Lando, these tires are getting tricky," the McLaren pit wall said. "You need to keep the focus. Don't push the braking as hard as you have been. You are naturally quicker." Norris cut the lead to under five seconds with five laps to go. Entering the penultimate lap, Norris was under four seconds behind Piastri and made another mistake to fall back to five seconds. Leclerc spent the whole race holding off the Red Bull of Verstappen, whom he outqualified, for a much-needed podium. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Piastri wins rain-delayed Belgian GP after Norris overtake
Oscar Piastri passed McLaren team-mate Lando Norris on the first racing lap of a wet-dry Belgian Grand Prix to take his sixth victory of the year and extend his championship lead. The Australian swept past Norris as the race started after an hour-and-a-half delay for heavy rain and two laps behind the safety car and controlled the race from there. Norris' side of the McLaren team chose a divergent tyre strategy when the drivers pitted to switch to slick, dry-weather tyres as the track dried. The hope was that Norris would be able to go to the end on the hard tyres chosen while Piastri, who stopped one lap earlier, would have to make a pit stop for a second set of his mediums. But Piastri, despite expressing initial misgivings about whether his rubber would last, made it to the end without stopping again. His impressive win, mixing keen racing instinct with calm tyre management, moves him 16 points clear in the championship heading to the Hungarian Grand Prix next weekend. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc hung on ahead of Red Bull's Max Verstappen in the tricky opening laps on a wet track despite using a lower-downforce set-up, and was able to consolidate the final podium place in the dry part of the race. Verstappen took fourth in a largely static race and is now 81 points behind Piastri in the championship, his hopes all but over. Mercedes' George Russell took fifth after passing Williams' Alex Albon in the wet early stages, while Lewis Hamilton drove an excellent race to take seventh from his pit lane start. Another decisive move from Piastri Piastri sealed his win with a trademark committed, decisive move on Norris when the conditions were at their most treacherous when the race finally started. The original start was abandoned because of heavy rain and poor visibility after formation lap behind the safety car. The drivers then sat in the pit lane for an hour and 20 minutes, followed by four laps behind the safety car before the race was finally allowed to start 90 minutes later than scheduled. Piastri tracked Norris closely through the first corner and through the high-speed swerves at East Rouge before diving around the outside into the les Combes chicane at the end of the long Kemmel straight. Norris complained over the radio that he was down on battery power, but was told he had used it up at the start behind the safety car. And after the race he admitted that Piastri had simply done a better first lap by pushing harder through Eau Rouge, where in the wet drivers have to choose how much to lift off, when it is flat in the dry. "Oscar did a good job, nothing more to say," Norris said. "Committed a bit more through Eau Rouge and had the slipstream and got the run and that was it. Love to be up top but Oscar deserved it today." Piastri said: "I knew that lap one was going to be probably my best chance of winning the race. "I got a good exit out of Turn One and then lifted as little as ai dared through Eau Rouge and it worked out pretty well. We had it mostly under control after that. "I was a bit disappointed it was a rolling start because I thought that would take away some opportunity but when I was that close I knew I was going to lift a little bit less than Lando did. A bit lively over the hill but then the slipstream helped me out." Once in front, Piastri inched away in the lead until he was just under two seconds in front when he chose to stop for slick tyres on lap 12, his position in front giving him priority on stop timing and forcing Norris into a difficult position. Piastri fitted the medium tyres while Norris had to do an extra lap on a drying track on highly worn intermediate tyres. His engineer asked him if he would like hard tyres and try to run to the end, a decision Norris agreed with, and he rejoined 9.1 seconds back from Piastri after his stop. By around lap 20, Piastri told his engineer that he thought it would be "tough" to get his intermediates to the end but for a long time he held the lead at about eight seconds or so, and it slowly became apparent that he had decided not to stop again. In the final few laps, Norris began to make significant inroads into Piastri's lead, and was within four seconds of the leader with three laps to go. But Piastri managed the gap expertly to win by 3.4 seconds. Behind the leaders, the drivers were stuck in their positions after the pit stops, even if there was some tension for Leclerc as Verstappen pushed him hard in the closing laps. Much of the excitement in the race was provided by Hamilton. The seven-time champion started from the pit lane after Ferrari decided to change his set-up after his error in exceeding track limits in qualifying left him down in 16th on the grid. And Hamilton justified the decision with a series of excellent, improvisational overtaking moves to move up to 13th place before becoming the first driver to stop for slicks on lap 11, one before Piastri. That won him a chunk more places, and Hamilton was promoted to seventh by the pit-stop period, which he held to the end of the race. He closed to within a second of Albon on the final lap but was unable to pass. Full results Red Bull focused on retaining Verstappen - Mekies Andrew Benson Q&A: Send us your questions
Yahoo
22 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Piastri wins Belgian GP, extends championship lead
Oscar Piastri held off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris to win the Belgian Grand Prix on Sunday. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc came third as Piastri stretched his lead in the drivers' standings over Norris to 16 points. Heavy rain delayed the 13th round of the season by 80 minutes, with organisers eventually allowing a rolling start after four laps behind the safety car as the sun finally appeared. Pole sitter Norris was quickly passed by Piastri as Norris complained he had a problem with his car's battery. Piastri then produced a controlled race from the front to lead home McLaren's sixth 1-2 of the season. "I knew lap one was going to be my best chance of winning the race," said Piastri. "Rest of race we managed really well," the Australian added. "Oscar did a good job, nothing more to say," said Norris. Max Verstappen, winner of Saturday's sprint, took fourth in Laurent Mekies' first race weekend as Red Bull team principal after the sacking of Christian Horner a fortnight ago. nr/lp
